BIOGRAPHY PUBLISHED
ABOUT 2006 COSAM
DISTINGUISHED ALUMNUS,
C. HARRY KNOWLES
Inventor, physics alumnus, and member of the
COSAM Dean’s Leadership Council, C. Harry
Knowles, physics ’51, is the subject of a new
biography, Genius in America: The Story of C.
Harry Knowles, Inventor. The book, written by
*Mary Ellen Hendrix, details Knowles’ scientific
contributions, including more than 400 patents in
transistor, laser, and bar code-scanning technology.
became an industry workhorse manufactured in
the billions. In 1964, Knowles also developed and
presented the basic concepts of, and precursor to,
the renowned Moore’s Law forecasting model
for the semiconductor industry. In recognition
of his achievements, Knowles and Metrologic
Instruments were inducted into the New Jersey
Inventors Hall of Fame. Knowles continued as
a driving force behind the development of new
technologies at Metrologic until his retirement
in 2006. Metrologic is now a part of Honeywell
International, Inc.
Over the course of his career, he worked with
Bell Laboratories, Motorola Mobility, and
Westinghouse Electric Corporation before
founding Metrologic Instruments in New Jersey in
1968. During the next 40 years, Metrologic would
become a global, industry leader in laser and bar
code scanner manufacturing. Knowles introduced
some of the earliest handheld bar code scanners,
profoundly altering the marketplace for retailers
and consumers alike.
“In the early days, when I was coming out of Bell
Laboratories, I didn’t bother to patent a lot of the
things I discovered. Then the Court of Appeals
was established around 1982 and things changed.
The landscape totally changed such that trivial
patents were then in a position of power in the
marketplace. I didn’t realize that for a number of
years,” Knowles said, “and some of our competitors
‘invented’ a button on a portable scanner. They
said they invented it, but they didn’t. We did. But
a button on a scanner was so obvious, it didn’t
occur to me to patent it. So, after that, we decided
to patent every idea we had ever had, and we did.
Eventually we hired one of the best patent lawyers
in the country.”
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Journey/2014
A Birmingham, Ala., native, Knowles enrolled
at Auburn University (then called Alabama
Polytechnic Institute) in 1945 and, after his
freshman year, served in the U.S. Marine Corps for
two years.
Included among his 400 U.S. patents, Knowles
counts several major firsts including the first
programmable bar code scanner, the first handheld
laser scanner, and the first mini-slot scanner.
Metrologic’s devices are used in supermarkets, retail
stores, libraries, and airports and can be found in
more than 100 different countries.
Knowles’ scientific contributions include not only
innovative scanner technologies, but also transistors
that served the nation’s first satellite and computers
of the late 1950s and 1960s. His star transistor,
universally recognized as the “2N2222” transistor,
“I was a physics nerd and interested in cameras,
physics, and chemistry, and I loved the libraries
and reading, and I was relatively bashful,” Knowles
said. “After I took a two year stint in the Marine
Corps, I came back to Auburn and started to get
interested in other things. Then, during my junior
year, life exploded, and I found myself getting
involved in campus activities, and I absolutely
loved it.”
Upon his return to Auburn, Knowles earned a
varsity letter in wrestling under legendary coach
Swede Umbach. In 1950, he organized the campus’
first chapter of the national physics honor society,
Sigma Pi Sigma, for which Knowles served as
chapter president. He was also vice president and
president of the Student Government Association,
editor of the 1951 Glomerata, and Auburn’s
nominee for the Rhodes Scholarship.
“There is something about
Auburn that captures your
societal soul, and I got so
busy my senior year that I
was called in by Dean (Roger)
Allen (Dean of Science and
Literature from 1944-67)
because I had agreed to take
over the Glomerata, and I
just quit going to class - I just
went in to take the tests.
Dean Allen said, ‘Harry, I hate
to say this, but if you don’t
get a C average this quarter,
you are out of school.’ I came
within one quiz question of
flunking out of Auburn, but
I liked the extracurricular
activities, and I discovered
that campus life is about
more than just technology. I
am a pretty good technician,
but I wasn’t much with
people, so developing those
relationships while at Auburn
was extremely important. The
social skills and sensitivity I
developed at Auburn were
crucial. I was such a nerd.
Work is great, but people
are greater. I attribute that
lesson to Auburn.”
Knowles went on to earn a master’s degree in
physics from Vanderbilt University in 1953,
and in May 2008, Auburn recognized his
distinguished career by awarding him an honorary
doctorate. He was also the recipient of a COSAM
Distinguished Alumnus Award in 2006, followed
by the Auburn University Lifetime Achievement
Award in 2007.
programs designed to encourage and sustain young
scientists and mathematicians as they dedicate their
lives to teaching.
In 1998, he endowed the Howard and Carolyn
Carr Professorship in Physics in appreciation of Dr.
and Mrs. Carr’s influence during his student tenure
at Auburn. Knowles also recently endowed the C.
Harry Knowles Professor for Research Leadership
in Mathematics Instruction, as well as the C. Harry
Knowles Professor for Leadership in Research
or Outreach to Enhance Science Teaching and
Learning, both in COSAM. Additionally, he
Now that Knowles is retired, KSTF is where he
devotes most of his energy.
was instrumental in establishing the Stewart W.
Schneller Chair, endowed in honor of Stewart
Schneller, former dean of COSAM and professor
of chemistry and biochemistry.
For more information on Knowles, order a copy
of his biography, Genius in America: The Story of C.
Harry Knowles, Inventor, on Amazon.com.
In further support of education, the Knowles
Science Teaching Foundation (KSTF) was
established and endowed in 1999 by Knowles.
KSTF works to strengthen and improve the quality
of high school science, technology, engineering, and
mathematics education in the U.S. by providing
teaching fellowships, research, and resources to
college students who plan to become high school
teachers. The foundation supports individuals and
“During my time at Auburn, Vanderbilt, and
Bell Laboratories, I had an incredible supply of
Nobel Laureate teachers, and the students around
me were remarkable technicians. I assumed that
was the national norm,” said Knowles. “Later on
when I started Metrologic, I noticed the quality
of education the new engineers were getting was
not up to what my standards were or what Bell
Laboratories’ standards were, or what Auburn’s
standards were. I decided right then that if I ever
made enough money I would work to improve the
science and math teaching in the U.S., and that
became a driving force. For years I was tempted to
sell out the company, but I didn’t because through
all the trials and tribulations at Metrologic, the goal
of establishing the foundation remained. And the
decline of the quality of education has continued,
so the compulsion to stick with it remained. I am
fortunate that I have been able to fulfill the dream
of promoting a great school of teachers of science
and math education. KSTF currently has 800
top-notch high school science and mathematics
teachers who have gone through the five-year
program that are now part of the teaching cadre
in the U.S. The half-life of the average science
and math teacher in the U.S. is about five years
in the classroom, so in other words, just as a
teacher is getting good, they leave. KSTF is the
most successful program in the country, by far,
for training excellent teachers who remain in the
classroom. The attrition rate is lower than any other
program, and the teachers last five to six times
longer in the schools.”
*The author of Knowles’ biography, Mary Ellen
Hendrix, is an award-winning writer who retired
from Auburn University in 2007 after working with
alumni for many years in her capacity as associate
editor for The Auburn Alumnews and Auburn
Magazine. During her Auburn tenure, Hendrix,
who holds a dual degree in journalism and English
from Auburn, interviewed some of the university’s
brightest and most successful alumni, ultimately
leading to the book on Knowles.
College of Sciences and Mathematics
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